My ringtone in general is the Ramones singing I Wanna Be Sedated. My tone for DH is Bon Jovi's It's My Life... and my text tone is GIR saying "do a little dance"....

But I am sure that I mute it at work because the last thing I need for my coworkers to hear is GIR... because GIR is a lot to explain to most people.

Hi Floor! Make me a sammich!

It's funny other people on here know who GIR is - I forgot to add my dad's ringtone is GIR screaming like a banshee when Zim refuses to eat the waffles he made. It's usually how I feel when I talk to him

since it's a lot of screaming when the phone rings, I can totally see how that would be annoying to others. Why I mute my phone when I'm in public and set to vibrate.

I think for me the issue is more volume, rather than the ring tone itself. And even then, the only time I might say something would be at work. Maybe.

But speaking of odd ringtones, our work landline phones - made by Cisco - have various ring tone options. Barely anyone changes theirs so I always know if it's my phone ringing when I'm in the break room or something. But the odd part - they have not one, but two, options of the ring tone being someone saying "Are you there? Are you there?". One in a male voice and one in a female voice. I just find it so incredibly strange that someone would think those were great ideas for phones that are obviously business phones. Of course, it makes for a really good prank to change someone's ringer to that when they aren't around.

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"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

Well to explain a little further, the co worker in question had ringtone from the movie poltergiest "mmmooooommmmmmyyyy" so i get the creepy aspect but but given hers i don't think (assumption i know) that was the issue.

Not a ringtone but back in college when the ICQ messenger was big, I had it and you could customize message tones. For a while, whenever anyone would send me a message I'd hear this: http://www.zedge.net/ringtone/1184251/?cep=4

I've considered using it as a text alert tone.

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Well to explain a little further, the co worker in question had ringtone from the movie poltergiest "mmmooooommmmmmyyyy" so i get the creepy aspect but but given hers i don't think (assumption i know) that was the issue.

LOL, nice! I get that it's not the situation with her (she sounds like she just wanted to complain), but if I, for example, worked with you, and said, "I'm sorry, I know I'm a wuss, but your ringtone really freaks me out whenever I hear it. Is there any way you could keep it on vibrate at work or change it?"

Would that be a legitimate request? How would you (in general, not just you, Chaney) react?

Honestly, Giraffe, Yes. If someone who hears my ringtones on a regular basis has an issue, I will probably change it. Once. I think you're right that the coworker in Chaney's case just wanted to complain.

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It's not what we gather along the way that matters. It's what we scatter.

I can think of only handful of scenarios that would require anyone to have their phone's "ringer" on in a public place. Mine is on vibrate unless it's at home with me and thus it doesn't annoy people around me. I'm not a big fan of unnecessary noise - especially of the inane variety - so ringtones tend to really get on my nerves. I've only said something to someone once, though, and that was a co-worker who constantly left her phone on then went to three-hour meetings, leaving us to hear it ring and ring and ring. Loudly. We finally wrapped the stupid thing in her sweater and stuffed it in her desk drawer, then had a talk with her.

I've never understood the need to have unique ringtones for certain people, either. Surely the person's number and contact information show up on the phone when they call. So why the need for a special ringtone? That's always confused me.

I agree. If I'm hearing someone's ringtone enough to get seriously annoyed by it, the problem is usually the frequency at which I'm hearing their phone, not the ringtone itself. The worst is when others in my office leave their phones in their cubicles, ringers on, and leave the room. I usually go days or even weeks without receiving a call on my cell--the coworkers who leave their phones will get three or four phone calls ringing out just while they're out of the office. That's annoying regardless of the ringtone.

IMO, if someone complains about your ringtone after hearing it once, or once in a blue moon, before you promptly pick up the phone to either answer or silence it, then they're most likely being unreasonable. If a lot of people are complaining after hearing it once, you should probably think long and hard about whether there's something offensive or startling about it that you shouldn't subject others to. If the same people are hearing it almost every day or if you habitually let it ring out (either because you're ignoring the call or because you've left your phone unattended), then you should take complaints into account and adjust your phone habits and/or ringtone to lessen the annoyance to those around you. If you don't want to change your ringtone, then IMO the onus is on you to make sure they don't have to hear it--what they don't hear can't annoy them, right?

I usually put my phone on vibrate out in public, because some of my ringtones (I change them fairly often) can startle passersby, being hard rock. (Think of Disturbed or Metallica just randomly blurting out of someone's pocket at the DMV or something....that could startle someone, LOL.) Right now my ringtone is "Don't Stop Believing" for everyone and "The Edge of Glory" for Mr. Bottlecaps. I don't think either of those would startle anyone, but it's just a habit. The only bad thing about putting it on vibrate is a lot of times I'll forget to turn the sound back on when I get out of public and then if I'm in another room, I won't realize my phone is going off!

But anyway, I think it would be rude of someone to blurt out that your ringtone is annoying if they don't know you well enough to say something like that. Family, friends are different (and even then I'd still be polite about it) - but random passersby, no, I wouldn't say to someone that their ringtone is annoying. I generally don't really think about others' ringtones unless it's a song/noise I recognize, and in that case I'd likely commend them for it, hehe, or if it's in a situation where it is considered rude to have your phone's sound on, for example, in a theater.

« Last Edit: March 21, 2013, 05:06:31 PM by Bottlecaps »

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"Some of the most wonderful people are the ones who don't fit into boxes." -Tori Amos

Well to explain a little further, the co worker in question had ringtone from the movie poltergiest "mmmooooommmmmmyyyy" so i get the creepy aspect but but given hers i don't think (assumption i know) that was the issue.

LOL, nice! I get that it's not the situation with her (she sounds like she just wanted to complain), but if I, for example, worked with you, and said, "I'm sorry, I know I'm a wuss, but your ringtone really freaks me out whenever I hear it. Is there any way you could keep it on vibrate at work or change it?"

Would that be a legitimate request? How would you (in general, not just you, Chaney) react?

Yes, it would be a legitimate and reasonable request which I would most likely honor and just change it.

But speaking of odd ringtones, our work landline phones - made by Cisco - have various ring tone options. Barely anyone changes theirs so I always know if it's my phone ringing when I'm in the break room or something. But the odd part - they have not one, but two, options of the ring tone being someone saying "Are you there? Are you there?". One in a male voice and one in a female voice. I just find it so incredibly strange that someone would think those were great ideas for phones that are obviously business phones. Of course, it makes for a really good prank to change someone's ringer to that when they aren't around.

We had those same phones - with the same ring options - at my last job! One of the people in my general area on floor I worked on set her phone to the "Are you there?" option and it was so fabulously annoying that a bunch of us protested en masse and made her change it.

My alarm tone is Dixie (which some may find offensive but it is not intended to be)

I understand that Abraham Lincoln thought it was a good tune.

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My cousin's memoir of love and loneliness while raising a child with multiple disabilities will be out on Amazon soon! Know the Night, by Maria Mutch, has been called "full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night."